Saturday, January 16, 2010

I Did It!

I finally did it. I baked a successful loaf of bread – two loaves in fact. Bread is a culinary hurdle I have been unable to sail over. Oh, I have a bread machine. I can make hockey pucks and tortillas in my bread machine. This happens no matter if I use a recipe from scratch or a packaged mix.

I store the paddle for the machine in the pan unattached. One time I forgot to install the paddle. It was baked right into the hockey puck loaf. What an idiot.

Cornbread has been conquered and improved by me. No problem. It’s so good I call in cornbread cake. Buttermilk biscuits I rule supreme. Pass the butter. Yeast breads I swear to dominate. Today I begin to teach myself how to master yeast bread baking.

I chose a recipe from the November 2009 issue of CookingLight. All the ingredients to make Walnut Bread were in my kitchen; so I could proceed. The planets aligned. The weather cooperated. The angels sang. The gods approved. It was good.

I took a picture to record my success so I can remember this 1st step. Certainly, I will have many steps backwards; but I finally did it. It was good. The recipe did not call for an egg wash; but a taste tester suggested to try that. It looks pretty good. Another taste tester in my kitchen thought kosher salt would be good. I salted one loaf. It was good.

Warm bread and melting butter. It is good.

Note: Why do food stylist place their food on fabric? I don’t want my bread on a piece of linen or burlap (pictured above). Please keep the lint, threads, and fluff off of my food. Thank you.

Congratulations! I had come to terms with my inability to bake anything: bread, muffins, cookies, cakes. I just didn't have that gene. And I was okay with it. All those carbs aren't good for me anyway.

Then for Christmas, my mother-in-law gave me a bread making machine. I supposed I'll have to get my flour on now.